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Is black a color or shade?

Updated: 9/11/2023
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13y ago

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Black is non-colour. Colour is wavelengths of light and black is the result when no lightwaves are emitted or reflected. When you add black to a saturated colour in a subtractive palette(CMYK), or subtract white from an additive palette(RGB), you are creating a shade of that colour. Do the same with grey (desaturating), you create a tone. Do it with white, you create a tint.

Black and white are not colors. The word "tone" simply means you have very dark black; charcoal black; gray/black and white comes in different shades as well. Without black and white there would be no depth to colors.

It really depends on what kind of color you are talking about.

When it comes to pigments, the color black comes from a mixture of all the colors. Therefore, yes, it is a color, it's all of the colors. But to really understand how that works exactly, one must understand the basics of the light spectrum.

The light spectrum however is the opposite. White light is all the colors of the visible spectrum where as "black light" (no such thing, in this context, exists) commonly known as darkness, is the lack of all colors. If something is, say, green, this object will absorb all colors of light and reflect the green part of the spectrum. We thus perceive the object as being green. The brightness or darkness of these colors depends upon the objects ability to reflect and absorb whatever color.

Light - White is all the colors, black is none of them (darkness)

Paint - White is none of the colors, black is a mixture of them all.

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Black is a Color. Black absorbs all frequencies of light in the visible spectrum producing the color black. The black object does not emit or reflect light.

Black is a Shade. Although Black is primarily considered a color, Black can also be part of the Achromatic color sets - Grey, (or Gray) is a range of tints and shades ranging from Black to White.

Black is not a shade. Shades are different intensities of colors that can vary, and you can't have pale black or dark white.

Whether black is a color or not is debatable and depends on where you are coming from. In scientific terms, black and white are not colors. White is a mix of all colors and black is the absence of all colors in terms of light mixing. Colors in this context are different wavelengths of light that stimulate our eyes in different ways.

On the other hand, if you are coming from the direction of paint-pots, then black and white are colors. Here, colors are the different things you splodge on a surface, and you don't have colorless paint.

Basically, the issue comes down to being a scientist or an ordinary person. The scientific terms are correct in scientific contexts. The ordinary terms are correct in ordinary contexts.

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9y ago
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13y ago

yes it is a shade final.

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13y ago

Black is not a color , it is a shade.

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13y ago

niether

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Q: Is black a color or shade?
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